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Business owner Brent Webb wants to loop Sacramento into a craze that has overtaken Europe and landed in the Silicon Valley last December - indoor kart racing. For office workers.
He's not talking about stinky outdoor Go-Karts for kids seekmg a quick thrill on a summer afternoon.
Indoor karting has gone corporate and upscale. It's a big business, attracting team-building events, corporate training, and meetings for workers who are tired of the usual golf outings and fancy dinners.
At his proposed site on Bradshaw Road, next to the drive-in theater along Highway 50 in Rancho Cordova, Webb's Race Place Motorsports would have 75,000 square feet with large conference rooms, a nonalcoholic sports lounge overlooking the track, locker rooms with showers, and electronic membership cards that store racers' previous scores.
Webb expects half of his revenue to come from corporate events, with the other half coming from individuals and dropin racers.
If Race Place Motorsports gets a use permit from Sacramento County, Webb hopes to open his business in March in an existing warehouse.
The county is doing an environmental review, planner Troy Givans says, before the planning commission votes on the proposal.
$20,000 meetings in Boston: Two-story Race Place would be one of the largest indoor kart centers in the nation. There are only about 30 centers nationwide, but eight or 10 new ones open each year. California has a handful now. The closest is in Stockton.
The newest is in Santa Clara, where two Silicon Valley businessmen are about to turn a profit after opening last December.
The pastime is enjoying a .pretty healthy growth rate," says Peter Knoot, a semiconductor industry executive who opened the 50,000-square-foot SpeedRing in Santa Clara with a partner. "It's a very young industry for the U.S."
Knoot expects the number of U.S. indoor centers to grow by 50 percent to 100 percent over the next several years. Last year indoor karting came to Atlanta, Boston and Chicago. The...